Contrary to the fine weather when they went to Daeju, when Lu Jin and the others returned to Ulju, a heavy snow finally fell on this ancient and vicissitudes of land. In just one night, the world has turned into pure white, and even the official road has been covered by snow.

Fortunately, Fei Zhancang, who is most familiar with the road environment in Datong and was born as a scout, is still difficult for their team. However, the speed slowed down after all, and after walking straight for six or seven days, he really returned to Ulju.

When they saw the familiar environment from afar, especially the small state town, many people let out a burst of cheers in their hearts. Although it has only been more than half a month since the grain was delivered, there have been many twists and turns, especially the battle when I went there, which really scared many people, and now it is always a happy thing to be able to return home safely.

There was no need for Lu Zhen to urge again, everyone's footsteps were much faster, and after only more than half an hour, they finally came to the west gate of the state city. In fact, it was not only them, but even Lu Zhen also wanted to hurry back to the city and see Chu Yunrong and them, which made his pace before and after coming to the city gate three points faster.

When they came to the city gate, several guards guarding there had already stepped forward respectfully and saluted: "I have seen Lord Zhizhou." ”

"Hmm, is everything okay in the city?" Lu Zhen waved them to excuse them, and asked casually. In fact, he wasn't too worried about the situation here, because when he didn't take office before, the city was also in order, and this time it was just more than half a month apart, could there be any chaos?

Sure enough, several soldiers all replied with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, everything is naturally safe in the city." ”

"That's the best way to do it." Lu Zhen smiled and patted one of them on the shoulder: "It's hard for you, you have to stay here all the time in this weather." ”

These lowly military men were moved in their hearts and thanked them again and again. And Lu Zhen didn't say anything more to them, and went back to the city. But at this moment, a group of people suddenly ran on the street that had become quite deserted due to the wind and snow, and they rushed towards an alley on the side in a hurry. Although Lu Zhen was still some distance away from them, even so, he could still feel the panic and hurry from him.

Is there something big going on? can make a state magistrate look so anxious. Lu Jin's heart was also tight, and he quickly increased his speed. Fei Zhancang, who was on the side, immediately understood his intentions, so he hurriedly rushed over with a few arrows, and shouted to the pedestrian who was about to get into the alley in front of him: "Everyone, slow down!" Lord Lu is here! ”

Xu Wentao, who was in a hurry because of the case, heard this greeting, and his face was still sinking at first, but as soon as he heard that Lu Zhizhou was coming, his footsteps were stunned, and then he quickly turned around and saw Lu Jin, who was striding towards this side: "Your Excellency, ......"

"What's going on?" Lu Zhen didn't talk to him politely, and asked directly.

"This ......" Xu Wentao hesitated slightly, and finally replied truthfully: "Someone from the Yamen just came to report the case, saying that there was a murder case in this fur hat alley in the west of the city. When he said this, he felt a little up and down in his heart, for fear that Lu Zhen would blame himself for this.

You must know that although the Ming Dynasty is far less wealthy than later generations, there is one thing that is stronger than hundreds of years later, that is, the people are simple and simple, and there are few vicious cases. A small border town like Ulju is even more rare and peaceful, and nothing like this has happened for many years. And now, only a few days after Lu Jin, the governor of the state, left the city, there was a murder case in the city, and the pressure on the shoulders of these subordinate officials, including Xu Wentao, was naturally very large.

Lu Zhen was also stunned for a while, and then showed a wry smile. I just asked people at the gate of the city, and they said that everything in the city was peaceful, why was this just a blink of an eye, and reality slapped me in the face? But soon, he became serious again: "Let's go, let's go to the murder scene together." "Since there is a murder case, he, the governor, naturally can't stay out of it.

"But my lord, you just came back from Datong, and you have been traveling all the way, should you go back to rest first...... Investigate the case or something, in fact, the lower officials can also handle it. Xu Wentao asked with some concern.

Lu Zhen shook his head disapprovingly: "No need, this official is not delicate enough to do that." As he spoke, he turned his head to Fei Zhancang who came with him and said, "You let them go to the yamen to finish the matter on their hands, and then go back separately." In addition, the thieves were first imprisoned in prison and disposed of when the official returned. ”

Fei Zhancang hurriedly agreed and went back to make arrangements. And Lu Jin made a gesture of invitation to Xu Wentao, who had no choice but to take Lu Jin into the somewhat narrow alley in front of him.

The area of Ulju Xicheng is inhabited by civilians in the city, and there are no less than 30 families living in this alley. At this time, although they didn't dare to come out to watch and discuss because of the government's arrival, Lu Jin, who was walking in the alley, could still clearly feel that there were many eyes behind the doors that were secretly looking here.

After walking inside, they finally stopped in front of one of the small courtyards, in front of the door, there were already a few nervous-looking strong men guarding at this moment, as soon as they saw Xu Wentao coming, they hurriedly came up to salute, but their expressions were still a little frightened.

Since Lu Jin, the boss, was present, Xu Tuiguan naturally didn't dare to take it, so he quickly reported the identity of Lord Zhizhou: "This is Lord Lu of Zhizhou in this city, if you find anything, you can tell him." ”

When the already nervous few people heard that it was the eldest lord coming, their faces turned even paler, and it took a while to react, and they knelt down and saluted: "The villain greets the eldest master, the villain doesn't know that the eldest lord is coming, and I hope that the adult will forgive the sin." ”

"No need to be polite, what the hell is going on here? Who died? Lu Jin's face also became very solemn at this time, because although he was standing outside the courtyard, he could still smell a strong smell of blood, and obviously the situation inside was not optimistic.

Only then did those people stand up and say in a somewhat uneasy tone: "This morning, Jin Laosan came to this alley to collect night incense according to his usual habit, but he found that the door of the Huang family was open, and there was a smell of blood inside. He had the audacity to dig in and found ...... When he found a man lying in a pool of blood in the courtyard, he screamed and screamed, alarming the people on the left and right...... The villain also hurried to hear about it, but found out that it was ...... I saw that not only people had died in the courtyard, but there were also corpses in several other rooms...... This Huang Lao's four families are all ...... all died in this ......", although it was not too long, but he stumbled, and in the end, his face was even more miserable, and his body trembled.

As for the so-called night incense in his mouth, it is just an elegant statement, but it is actually to collect the filth in the toilet. In a humble place like this alley, it is naturally impossible for ordinary people to have a special toilet, so they can only prepare toilets for each family, and then a special person comes to collect them every morning.

Lu Zhen was also shocked, he didn't expect that this always peaceful Xiaozhou City would be such a big case, which really caught people off guard. As for Xu Wentao beside him, his face changed so much that he couldn't even speak, just stared blankly at the half-open courtyard door, his face full of confusion.

He has been in office for seven years, and he has not taken on a single case that can make people feel as panicked today. He knew very well that if this case could not be solved, even if he had worked in vain for the past seven years, even if he would not be demoted, he would not have any chance of promotion.

His cranky thoughts were quickly interrupted by Lu Jin's words beside him: "Let's go, let's go first to see the deceased and the crime scene." After the initial surprise, Lu Zhen finally regained his composure. Compared to these people in front of him, Lu Zhen is obviously a person who has experienced more storms, not to mention anything else, just compared to the life and death he has seen, the five corpses here are nothing to be afraid of. Of course, there is no comparison between the cases of the past and today's, after all, it is a battle, and here it is a murder.

After Lu Zhen finished speaking, he had already stepped into the courtyard. After a slight hesitation, Xu Wentao also hurriedly followed, and at the same time, there were several veterans in the yamen, as well as a servant.

Although he was already mentally prepared, when he saw the corpse lying in the courtyard, Lu Zhen couldn't help frowning.

On the white snow, there was a stiff corpse lying upside down, and the blood flowing from the corpse had condensed into ice at this time, turning purple and black and scattering around, which constituted an extremely strange picture with the white snow.

After Lu Zhen nodded, the servant stepped forward and gently turned the body over, and then, the fatal wound on his chest was exposed to everyone's eyes, this is a narrow and deep wound, piercing straight into the left chest, directly piercing the person's heart, which is why there are so many blood stains around the corpse.

When Lu Zhen saw it, he couldn't help frowning again: "What a decisive and ruthless murder method, he actually pierced people's hearts with one knife, this murderer should be an expert." Sweeping over the body, he made sure that there were no extra wounds on his body, which is why he said this.

The two also responded in a timely manner: "What the lord said is that the deceased was indeed killed by someone with a knife, and this murderer should be a ...... who is accustomed to killing" This conversation between the two made the other people around feel frightened, as if the murderer was still hiding on the side and watching here.